Events relating to south africa

A primate of this period, at ease both in the trees and on the ground, is probably the common ancestor of gorillas, chimpanzees and humans

Certain primates, in eastern and southern Africa, are by now sufficiently like humans to be classed as hominids

Australopithecus Boisei lives in East Africa, and is possibly the first hominid species to use stone tools

Humans in coastal areas of South Africa extend their diet to include shellfish and other marine sources of food

In the Blombos cave in South Africa stones are engraved with patterns of lines, either decorative or practical (as a form of tally)

Painted and engraved images, on the rock face in a cave near Twyfelfontein in Namibia, date from this period

Africa south of the equatorial forests is largely inhabited by the Khoisan, of whom the San and the Hottentots are the modern survivors

Phoenicians sail round the Cape of Good Hope and bring back the surprising news that the sun was seen to the north of them

The kingdom of Great Zimbabwe displaces Mapungubwe as the dominant Shona power in this region of southern Africa

The Maravi Confederacy is formed by Bantu tribes and soon wins control over a large region between Lake Nyasa and the Zambezi

Bartolomeu Dias, sailing for the king of Portugal, becomes the first European navigator to round the Cape of Good Hope

The Portuguese establish trading posts in east Africa, on the coast of Mozambique

Dutch nomads, pressing far north from Cape Town, become known as the Trekboers

Dutch Boers begin calling themselves Afrikaners, to emphasize that Africa is their native land

The British impose the so-called Hottentot Code, protecting Africans at the Cape but also tying them to employers' farms

Napoleon is sent to a more secure place of exile, the rocky Atlantic island of St Helena

Shaka wins control of the Zulu and begins to build them into a formidable military machine

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